95,987 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Purchased by Lbp Am Sa

Lbp Am Sa purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 95,987 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $4,219,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $2,504,150,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 372,787,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,130,494,000 after acquiring an additional 4,615,075 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 208,213,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,009,388,000 after acquiring an additional 4,205,449 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.5% during the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,159,040 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $915,552,000 after acquiring an additional 3,743,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth approximately $113,004,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Barclays started coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.93.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of VZ opened at $39.34 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.39 and a 52-week high of $47.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.58. The company has a market cap of $165.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.40, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm had revenue of $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, January 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.0%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.97%.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) is a major U.S.-based telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and information services. Its operations span consumer and business markets, with core offerings that include wireless voice and data services, fixed-line broadband and fiber-optic services, and enterprise networking solutions. Verizon is headquartered in New York City and operates a nationwide wireless network that supports consumer subscribers as well as business and government customers.

The company’s consumer products include mobile phone plans, unlimited data services, and Fios, its branded fiber-optic internet, television and voice service for homes and small businesses.